20 Mom Tips to make 2020 a Success (Part 2)
How is your year going so far, mom? (COVID-19 aside of course!) Are you still keeping up with those resolutions you made 3 months ago? Don’t feel bad if you aren’t…
Now is as good a time as any to assess where you’re at and how you’re doing and even set yourself some new goals for the next bit of the year.
Following my previous post, are the next 10 Mom tips for making 2020 a success for you and your children! Like I said in the first post, these are not written from a position of achievement! Many of these items are goals I have for myself or things I think would make my life and my family’s life more enjoyable and successful.
If you’re looking for Tips # 1- 10, click on this link!
11) Make time for yourself every day.
Making time for yourself as a mom is incredibly hard when you have little ones who need your attention and need you to keep them entertained. I completely get it! My littles are just over 1 and almost 3 and only now are they able to play together while I do something else. It’s short and it usually ends in one taking a toy from the other and then a little meltdown follows and then mom has to dash in and help them reconcile, but you know, for like 3 minutes I had a break while they played beautifully!
Take a few minutes for you everyday. Put on that make up if it makes you feel clean and fresh and pretty – even if you’re not planning on going out! Read a couple of pages of your book. Just sit on the couch and drink your cup of coffee. Have an uninterrupted shower (Hello spa-day! At least that’s what it feels like!)
You work hard, you carry a heavy load. You need a bit of time every day just to unload and gather yourself, to fill up and get refreshed so you can do it all again tomorrow!
12) If you have a bad day, learn from it, let it go and start over tomorrow.
Maybe it’s an anxiety thing, a perfectionism thing; maybe it’s just a mom thing. I’m not sure. But sometimes, when we have a bad day, it just plays over and over and over in our minds. What you did, what you said, how you messed up, what you should have or could have done instead; it just goes round and round, wearing you down bit by bit.
Here’s a better way: Analyze it. See where you need to grow or improve. Make a list. Decide on what you can do better. And then let it go.
You may have repercussions to deal with tomorrow, but figure out how you’re going to handle it and make it happen!
13) Be gracious to yourself.
We are harder on ourselves than anyone else; we speak words to ourselves we wouldn’t dare say to another person!
No, you’re not perfect, no one is. But are you doing your best? Are you working to improve those areas of your life where you need to grow?
Don’t let those destructive lies play over and over in your mind. Rather let the truth flow over you and through your mind. Be a little more gracious to yourself. Be a little more kind in the words you speak over yourself.
And as you do this, you will show to your children how to do the same.
14) Do some exercise
Exercise has SO many benefits, such as physical health and strength, mental health, improving your productivity and focus.
It doesn’t have to be an hour-long session at the gym, or a two hour run, find something you enjoy that gets your body moving. For me, it’s 15 minutes of Pilates before everyone else wakes up in the morning. It might not be very long, but it makes a huge difference to my day. My head is clearer, I’m more positive, I feel more productive, and I’m more likely to drink more water and make healthier eating choices too, plus every week I feel stronger and more flexible, and I love that!
I want my kids to have a positive attitude toward fitness and staying healthy. So, the best way to develop that in our children is to model it for them.
15) Ask for help when you need it!
This is probably one moms struggle with the most…we want to look like we’ve got it all together all the time. Let’s be honest, sometimes you just don’t. And it’s ok!
You don’t have to ask just anyone for help or let everyone in on where you’re at, but have some people you can let in. Have some people you can ask for help. Find a mom friend who gets it and will support you when you feel like you’re falling apart!
Let them take the kids on a Saturday morning. Let them do that one part of the project or do that bit of admin for you. Delegate a task or two to someone else and just let it go, just let them do it.
We want our kids to come to us when they need us, not to take things into their own hands when they’re completely in over their heads! What do they see you doing when you’re in over your head?
16) Have people over even if your home isn’t perfect.
I have to remind myself of this more often! I love my home, I’m so grateful for it. No, our house is not perfect but it is our home. Yes, I have big dreams for building our home up, improving it in so many ways. But more than anything, I want my home to be a sanctuary, a place where my family and others feel God’s love and joy and peace.
What do you want your home to be? What do you want it to feel like?
Inviting people into your home is about building relationships, about teaching your children hospitality. You could have someone over for a meal or maybe just a cup of coffee, host someone to stay over for a period of time or just invite them to pop-in on the way from A to B.
No matter how big or small, how well-decorated or plain, how sparkling clean or cluttered and messy, if you have a home, use it to bless others.
17) Take some time to do meal planning every week.
I can’t believe how much time and money this little tip has saved me, not to mention my family actually gets a decent dinner every night.
Sit down once a week – you could even do it monthly – and plan your meals. Make a list of what you’re going to cook for dinner every night and what you’ll have for lunches and breakfasts. You should include snacks too.
Once you’ve written down all the meals, compile a shopping list including all the ingredients you’ll need for those meals and snacks.
This saves so much time and eliminates the stress of thinking every day what you’re going to eat. It saves money as you only shop for what you need and you waste a lot less food this way too! If gives you the chance to plan healthy meals instead of just getting take-outs. And it teaches your children how to prioritise a healthy, organised lifestyle.
Here’s a FREE Template I designed to help you plan your meals and shopping list every week! I hope it will be a huge help to you!
18) See how you can work with your child’s teacher/s.
As a teacher and a mom I see both sides. And most of your child’s teachers are probably moms so they get it too.
It’s so awesome when you have a parent-teacher meeting and you feel a unity between the two of you – you both understand you’re there for this child, for their best interests, to help them achieve all they have the potential to achieve!
See how you can learn from each other, see how you can encourage each other and work together. Is there something you do at home that works well for your child that the teacher can use at school; is there something that works well at school that you can use at home? Find common ground. Then you’ll see how much your child will benefit!
19) Let your children figure things out and do things for themselves.
All their lives you’ve been the one to sort out their problems from when they were tiny. But as they grow, it’s really important to give them more and more responsibility and equip them little by little to take responsibility for themselves and their actions.
No, I’m not advocating a complete hand-off approach. That’s destructive too. I’m advocating for a gradual, age/stage appropriate, scaffolded process of allowing them to think through their decisions and actions and take responsibility for the repercussions (good or bad) that come out of those actions.
It’s walking beside them through each situation, knowing when they just need a listening ear or a guiding word, when they need their mom to hold their hand, and even sometimes, when they need you to carry them.
20) Look for the good and focus on that!
What a time we live in! What a time to make this point! How easy it is to let those negative, self-degrading, spiralling thoughts dominate.
Your mind is a battlefield. Take those thoughts captive and stop them in their tracks. Then fill your mind with something more positive and wholesome, something that brings you hope and peace and joy.
Look for the good. In everything: in your kids, in your husband, in yourself, in the world around you, in the people around you. And let’s be honest, sometimes you really have to look hard! But don’t stop.
Because when you really start to look, when you really start to see it, it’ll change your mind completely and make you so much happier and more positive!
So many areas in which to grow!
Do you feel like this – like you just have so many areas in your life where you are not where you want to be?
Sometimes it feels like you’re failing at everything – or am I the only one?!
Momma, you are amazing! The fact that you are reading this, that you are linked in to this community, tells me you are doing your best, that you’re doing everything you can, to be all your loved ones need you to be!
Cut yourself some slack and keep at it! Keep looking after yourself, keep learning, keep growing, keep counting to ten so you won’t lose it! You’re doing an amazing job!
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